New trams strengthen Cluj-Napoca’s position as a leader in green mobility

The city plans to electrify 100% of the fleet by 2026

At the end of last week, 24 Romanian newly made trams arrived in Cluj-Napoca, as part of the city’s push to decarbonise and modernise the public transit system. Currently, 50% of the city’s public transport fleet is electric and local authorities are aiming to make it 100% by the year 2026.

The Astra Imperio trams have a capacity of 300 passengers, each equipped with 36 seats and providing a number of modern amenities like ramps for wheelchairs, free Wi-Fi and a video surveillance system. The whole purchase costs around 18 million euros.

Meanwhile, local authorities have prepared projects for EU financing in the next programme period 2021-2027 to vastly increase the quality of the public transportation network. Some of their plans include electric trams, autonomous buses and an expansion of the trolleybus network.

Cluj-Napoca - a green mobility champion

In recent years, Cluj-Napoca authorities have created a steady stream of policy and vehicle investments securing a position as a leader in terms of sustainable mobility. The city has the least polluting public transport system in all of Romania. Two-thirds of the 370 vehicles in use are new and around half of them are electric.

At the same time, the city has extended its ‘Green Fridays’ initiative, essentially making public transport free on Fridays. This initiative is supposed to promote the use of public transport, get people out of their cars for good and reduce air pollution.

Furthermore, ‘health ticket’, an innovative campaign combining sports and the added benefits of more people on public transport, gives citizens even more options. Essentially, the ‘health ticket’ lets passengers who squat 20 times in two minutes ride for free.